Trancegiving – ‘Tis the season of giving thanks. What are you most thankful for? For many of us dreamers that gathered in San Bernardino for Dreamstate SoCal, the answer is trance. Over two nights, November 22-23, NOS Events Center was transformed into the ultimate trance destination for its fifth edition. The Events Center was painted with blue and purple hues, festively-decorated trees that illuminated onto the venue’s breathtaking lake, and most importantly, three towering stages that served up a full feast of trance music.
Day One:
Our first helping of trance was served with a side of psy from Israeli DJ/producer, Ace Ventura at The Sequence stage. The tented mega-structure shook with his signature, deep and tribal progressive beats while lasers simultaneously pierced the air. A mysterious aura filled Sequence as he prepared to build up and drop “Ingonyama”, tantalizing the crowd as his set developed. Ventura was followed with a live set by Shpongle (Simon Posford). Shpongle took dreamers on a spiritual journey to a “Stranger Planet”, while opening our minds to the “Divine Moments of Truth”. Other notable performances that took place here included Sentinel 7, Khromata, Perfect Stranger, Astrix, Gaudium, Avalon, and finally, Electric Universe. Electric Universe concluded night one with pure goosebumps, closing with an unreleased original “Lakshmi”, while swirling abstract visuals streamed behind him.
The vibes at Dreamstate were unparalleled. Beautiful souls and positive energy radiated from every corner of the venue, but they seemed to be at an all-time high inside The Vision. The indoor stage felt like the best kept secret at Dreamstate. From looking outward, you may not have expected much, but upon walking in, BOOM – insane production! If Shpongle’s set didn’t already abduct your soul to another planet, Vision now was in control of it. The warehouse held memorable sets from artists such as Cold Blue, Solarstone, Gentech (Mark Sherry & Scot Project), Karney, Yoji Biomehanika, and many more to keep you satiated for the remainder of the night.
Dreamstate SoCal’s main course, The Dream presented a plate full of unforgettable performances to their largest megastructure to date. Legendary producers, Somna, Dave Neven, Davey Asprey, Ruben de Ronde, Giuseppe Ottaviani, Gareth Emery, Key4050, Ferry Corsten, and Aly & Fila each brought something different to the table.
Ruben de Ronde put the audience into A State of Trance, while Aly & Fila delivered the Future Sound of Egypt. Although we would have liked to see songstress, HALIENE with her very own time slot, we were grateful to have witnessed her share that angelic voice center stage with industry greats, Somna, Ruben de Ronde, and Ferry Corsten. Giuseppe Ottaviani kept dreams alive with his uplifting melodies, trancified tracks that you wouldn’t expect to hear (Fisher’s “Losing It”), and showcased remixes, Muse’s “Starlight” and Ascension’s “Someone”, that will go down in Dreamstate history. Gareth Emery’s set list was a mixture of old school classics and new school hits. Emery gave dreamers 100 Reasons To Live with “Reckless” and a feeling of nostalgia with his classics, “Off The World”, “Sanctuary”, “Exposure”, and “On A Good Day (Metropolis). It was a night of powerful back to back trance.
Day Two:
After a powerful first night, we were beyond ecstatic to return for day two. The schedule was packed with legends, current tastemakers and debuts across all three stages. As we made our way through the gates, the glittering lights and thumping bass permeated the grounds and welcomed us back into our trance getaway.
The Dream was quite the focus point for day two, with sets from Gabriel & Dresden, Jason Ross, Spencer Brown, an unforgettable two hour Above & Beyond experience and Andrew Bayer B2B Ilan Bluestone being on the docket. Dreamers gathered to belt out lyrics to favorites like Gabriel & Dresden’s, “Only Road”, Jason Ross and Seven Lions’ “Ocean”, and Above & Beyond’s, “Happiness Amplified”. The magic that burst from the stage on Saturday was unreal, from Seven Lions making surprise appearances during Jason Ross’ and Above & Beyond’s set, to A&B playing out all the classics spanning back from the beginning of their career for the last half hour, and Bayer b2b Bluestone delivering a powerhouse closer performance that will live on in our memories forever.
The Vision once again had us enthralled with not only the performances, but the impeccable stage design. With features like fire dancing around the rings to transforming into a space shuttle that we felt inclined to board, The Vision had drew us in like moths to flame. This stage played host to a slew of collaborative creations including Pathfinders, Fables, Craig Connelly vs Factor B, SkyPatrol and AA Meeting. Spellbinding moments made the wait to get in worth it. Fables helped us, “Find Your Paradise”, Sean Tyas vs Menno De Jong had us, “Set to Sail”, into trance heaven and the epic B2B’s interweaving between melodic bliss and hard hitting bass had all of us dreamers’ hands lifted to the sky. The Vision was the place to truly lose ourselves in the heart of trance.
The Sequence sucked dreamers in throughout the night, with psychedelic visuals and lasers-for-days creating a tantric vacuum. Reality Test showed off her unique styles with her own, “Go!”, and her most recent collaboration with Blastoyz, “Kabalah”. Vini Vici drew in the numbers and played out cult favorites like, “Free Tibet“, their most recent release, “Moyoni”, and even played a cheeky psy remix of 4 Non Blondes, “What’s Up”, that had the crowd singing in unison. The energy continued to pulsate with Blastoyz and Vini Vici and Friends keeping us in their grips. Wrapping up, we gathered for the most epic set of the weekend. Abraxis, consisting of Seven Lions and Dimibo, stepped to the decks in their professor gear ready to give us students of the Abraxis Institute their first lecture. Psy trance was flipped on it’s head, with the trio playing out jaw dropping lessons. From their own “Old Gods” and “Black Rainbow”, to creating psychedelic renditions of Porter Robinson’s, “Easy”, and Eiffel 65’s, “Move Your Body”, on top of their own psy trance goodies from their discographies, it didn’t take long for the rest of the festival to find themselves under the Sequence tent. To say that Abraxis stole the show is the understatement of 2019, with social media pages still buzzing over their electrifying performance.
We think that many will agree that this has been one of, if not the best Dreamstate editions. From the extraordinary stage design thanks to the teams at Insomniac, Vision, and Alteza Records, to the unforgettable performances and the best crowd to experience it all together with; this is the stuff of legends, this is what brought us all into this culture. Dreamstate reminded us why we started raving in the first place and completely reinvigorated our love for not just dance music but for each other. Dreamstate 2020 cannot come soon enough. Until next time, Dreamers.
Co-written by: Bianca Benjamin
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